


What's That Sound?

by Youkoartemis



Series: Dragon!Ryan AU [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragon!Ryan AU, Hybrid AU, M/M, bird!gavin, dragon!Ryan, rt hybrid AU, seriously, shameless fluff, this is just super cute cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 03:53:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4248354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Youkoartemis/pseuds/Youkoartemis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Apparently dragons can make a wide range of noises. Too bad Gavin doesn’t know what they all mean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's That Sound?

**Author's Note:**

> An anon on Tumblr prompted me with: “Prompt for dragon ryan AU; cuddling and talking when ryan starts rumbling and gavin thinks he said something bad and made ryan angry but ryans actually purring and they're both confused bc wtf dragons purr?“
> 
> And my response is: Why would Ryan be confused by the sounds he can make? He knows darn well he can purr! Gavin would be confused as heck, though.

It was cold out and the two hybrids were curled up together to conserve warmth. Gavin was pressed up against Ryan’s side, wings held close to his body to preserve warmth, his feathers fluffed out slightly to trap a layer of air close to his skin and keep him warmer. Ryan’s larger form was wrapped around Gavin’s, one wing draped over Gavin’s body and his tail loosely curling around one of Gavin’s leg.

As they talked (or rather, as Gavin talked and Ryan listened and offered occasional short responses), Ryan began letting out a low rumbling that sounded an awful lot like a growl with every exhale.

Gavin jumped slightly, feathers fluffing out further in his surprise and anxiety. He turned to give Ryan a wide-eyed gaze, looking very worried.

“Did I say somethin’ wrong?!” The bird hybrid asked worriedly, sounding deeply concerned.

The rumbling immediately cut off as Ryan looked very confused, a small frown furrowing his brow as he tilted his head slightly to one side.

“...No?“ Ryan responded, rather bewildered.

“Then what’re you growlin’ at me for?“ Gavin asked, waving his arms about as best he could to emphasize his question.

Ryan looked even more confused.

“Growling?” He asked, because he didn’t recall having done anything of the sort?

“You were makin’ rumbly noises!” Gavin explained, gesticulating somewhat wildly.

It clicked into place for Ryan, and he chuckled softly, gently butting the top of his head against Gavin’s forehead.

“Sthilly bird; I’m happy. No growl when happy.” He explained gently, letting out another soft rumble.

“Wait. So if you’re not _growling,_ then what...” A lightbulb went off somewhere in Gavin’s head, and his eyes widened in realization. “You’re bloody _purring!”_ He gasped, looking up at Ryan with wide eyes.

The rumbling grew slightly louder as Ryan continued to gently nuzzle Gavin.

Gavin grinned widely.

 _“Ryan!_ You’re bloody _purring,_ Ryan! Like a little kitty! That’s _adorable!”_ The bird hybrid cooed, rubbing Ryan’s cheeks with his hands, causing the dragon to purr louder. Gavin let out a burbling giggle of delight at that, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s neck and hugging the dragon man close.

At this proximity, Gavin could feel Ryan’s purring vibrate through his whole body, and it was lovely.

“Lovely Ryan.” Gavin crooned, gently stroking the ends of Ryan’s hair, which curled slightly at the base of Ryan’s skull.

Ryan lightly butted his cheek against Gavin’s hair, purring even louder. It sounded for all the world like he was growling, what with how deep the sound was, and how it only happened as he exhaled, but now that Gavin was listening, it lacked all anger and hostility. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d mistaken the two sounds, now that he knew which it was.

Gavin cooed again; Ryan was just the cutest and most precious dragon in the whole world, and Gavin was so glad he’d met him.

* * *

 

Ryan purrs a lot like a big cat; big cats CAN purr, it’s just at a deeper pitch than housecats, and they can only purr on the exhale rather than on both exhale and inhale. [According to Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purr), this is because big cats have an incompletely ossified hyoid bone in their larynxes, which lets them roar, but not “purr” in the traditional sense of the word. Housecats and other small cats, on the other hand, have completely ossified hyoid bones, which lets them purr but not roar.

Ryan has a partially ossified hyoid bone in his larynx, which means he can roar, but like big cats, he can only purr on exhale.

This has been a lesson on the biology of dragon!Ryan.

**Author's Note:**

> So this one was pretty short, but that's okay: I really like how it turned out. 
> 
> As mentioned in my previous short fic, I'm always open to prompts. I may not get to them all that soon, but I get to most of them eventually. Feel free to prompt me in the comments below or on Tumblr at http://youkoartemis.tumblr.com
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked the fic! =)


End file.
